Previews

ATV Offroad Fury 4

Spiffy:

So far, so good in regard to online multiplayer; addition of new vehicle types.

Iffy:

Graphics still need a little more polish; still feels like a niche genre game.

In the five years since ATV Offroad Fury released on the PlayStation 2, plenty of other off-roading competitors have stepped up to the plate. Not all have been successful, but one franchise seems to have become a thorn in the side of the series, no doubt in part thanks to the fact that Rainbow Studios, developers of the first two games in the series, jumped ship to work with THQ on the Unleashed series. UK-based Climax Studios took over from Rainbow for the well-received third Offroad Fury title and has been hard at work on the fourth installment. GameSpy got some very brief face time with an early build of the newest game at Sony's pre-E3 press event.

For the first time in the series, Buggies, MX Bikes, and Trophy Trucks are being thrown into the mix. Is it a move to stand up to 2005's MX vs. ATV Unleashed? Well, the gauntlet seemed to have been thrown down. Players will be able to race on over seventy tracks across six continents. There will also be different sorts of customization in regard to vehicle tuning and mechanics, as players can tweak suspension, tire types, gear ratios, and brakes, among other features. Also, Offroad Fury 4 looks to introduce a new story mode in which players will pick a character and work his or her way up the ranks of professional ridership. It will also introduce custom tracks and new Baja-style race modes.

The game will also offer cross-compatibility with upcoming ATV Offroad Fury Pro for PSP and will allow custom tracks and vehicles to be exchanged between the two titles. There will also be new additions to online play. A tournament-style format is being introduced. It will allow up to eight people to go head-to-head and will allow data exchange between players. Whether that comes in the form of vehicles or tracks in the same fashion as the PSP cross-compatibility remains to be seen.

Aside from new game features, at this point in the process graphics are still a moot point. It's so early that the game certainly hasn't had time for much of a gloss. So, visually, the game still seems right around par, but it's almost a certainty that the graphics will improve over time. Also, at the end of the day, it remains to be seen whether the game will have enough appeal to draw gamers who've never played any other titles in the series.

SCEA had stations set up with online play between writers and members of the development team. There were no USB headsets for trash-talking available, but they will be supported when the game releases in the fall. It seems that while certain gameplay elements still are in progress, the basic framework of online play is really good at this point. We experienced no lag whatsoever while racing against other players. Bruised egos, on the other hand, were something different. There was little doubt that during the three races we participated in that the smooth experience was not a coincidence. It seems that in the eighteen months since Offroad Fury 3 released Climax has really taken its time with building a strong online mode.

Amidst a sea of other games that were out for demo, we didn't have much time to dig deeply into ATV Offroad Fury 4. Then again, all there really was to play was the online multiplayer demo. Although visually it wasn't exactly stellar at this point, it's still very early in production, and Climax will probably take care of that as time passes. The gameplay mechanics are all intact, and the online play is something to behold, especially in light of where the game is in regard to production and release. We'll be sure to report more on the game as it gets closer to release.